Video: Saudi princess arraigned on human trafficking in California

posted at 9:21 am on July 11, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

That’s actually the occupation listed by 42-year-old Meshael Alayban, booked into an Orange County jail after a Kenyan servant escaped and claimed to have been held against her will in Irvine. Under a relatively new California law on human trafficking, Alayban could go to prison for 12 years if convicted of the crime. Tthe state court granted Alayban a $5 million bail, which prosecutors lamented as too small to keep the Saudi woman in the US (via Instapundit):

Meshael Alayban, 42, was booked into jail in Orange County on Wednesday morning after police said they found four additional women allegedly being held against their wills at her building. Jail records listed Alayban’s occupation as “princess.”

All five women were in good health and showed no indications of physical abuse, officials said. The Saudi princess allegedly stole their passports and work contracts, and forced them to work long hours for less than $10 a day, said Irvine police Lt. Julia Engen.

“The laws of our nation and California do not tolerate people who deprive or violate the liberty of another and obtain forced labor or services,” Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said in a statement issued by the Irvine Police Department.

Alayban, a mother of three, may be the first person to be prosecuted in Orange County under a new law that increased penalties for human-trafficking offenses. She is one of six wives married to a grandson of the king of Saudi Arabia, authorities said.

The victim who allegedly escaped from the building was a 30-year-old maid from Kenya. The other four women were from the Philippines, Engen said.

The women had originally contracted to perform work for $1600 a month, according to the complaint, but only got paid $220 a month. Alayban allegedly kept their passports to keep them from fleeing or finding other work and forced them to work around the clock — not just for herself, but for others in the condo complex. When arrested, Alayban and her attorney claimed that this was nothing more than a contractual dispute, but the court obviously didn’t agree with that argument.

What’s remarkable is the penurious nature of Alayban, assuming that this claim is true. She can easily come up with enough cash to float a $5 million bail bond (which is not surprising, given her family’s fortune), but can’t pay a maid a decent wage? $220 a month isn’t much anywhere in the world, but it’s barely an allowance in southern California. Even with a normal 40-hour work week, which sounds as though it would have been nearly a vacation for these women, that comes to an hourly wage of just $1.27.

This is the first case for California’s new law, and it appears to be a good one — but I wonder if it will get very far in court. The Saudis are almost certain to claim some kind of immunity, although Alayban’s status as a princess doesn’t constitute a diplomatic identity. The necessities of diplomacy may end up forcing the US to cut some kind of deal that results in kicking Alayban out of the US for good, while keeping her now-freed servants in the US — if she doesn’t skip bail and flee the country first. I seriously doubt that the Saudis will sit still for having a royal princess serving time in an American prison.

CdeBaca gave an exclusive interview to CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” to discuss the issue and touched on the issue of diplomatic slavery.

The State Department would not comment on the number of diplomatic trafficking cases, saying they are still under investigation.

But the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, looked into the issue in 2008.

It found more than 42 domestic workers alleging they were abused by their foreign diplomat employers since 2000.

The actual numbers of victims are likely higher, the GAO said.

And there are allegations it occurs in the nation’s capital as well.

“It happens just miles from the White House here in Washington D.C.,” CdeBaca said.

“I think we like to think that slavery is what happens in the shadows. As a profession, we hear way too many stories around the world of diplomats who think that they have carte blanche to treat their servants badly,” said CdeBaca.

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I seriously doubt that the Saudis will sit still for having a royal princess serving time in an American prison.

Fine. Then they can sit and squirm but just because they are royalty in some far off desert kingdom doesn’t and shouldn’t mean squat in the USA where all are supposed to be equal in the eyes of the law.

What’s remarkable is the penurious nature of Alayban, assuming that this claim is true. She can easily come up with enough cash to float a $5 million bail bond (which is not surprising, given her family’s fortune), but can’t pay a maid a decent wage? $220 a month isn’t much anywhere in the world, but it’s barely an allowance in southern California. Even with a normal 40-hour work week, which sounds as though it would have been nearly a vacation for these women, that comes to an hourly wage of just $1.27.

From an Instapundit post a week or so ago:

I was talking a few weeks ago to a friend who chairs an IEEE chapter in Silicon Valley. He says they bring over Chinese coders, pay them $500/month and put them in corporate apartments with a van that goes back and forth to the office, then send them back to China after a year. But they donate to Democrats, so there’s not much press scrutiny.

The necessities of diplomacy may end up forcing the US to cut some kind of deal that results in kicking Alayban out of the US for good, while keeping her now-freed servants in the US — if she doesn’t skip bail and flee the country first.

Well, if she skips bail and runs to the KSA, then we simply send in the Federal Marshals to return her.

Illegal immigrants are human slaves living in substandard conditions, earning substandard wages. Progressives hide that fact behind euphemisms like “Doing jobs Americans won’t do.” (Like cotton pickers). This is what we need to fix, not some silly Saudi princess.

If someone is here illegally, but has a job, and no criminal record they should be granted legal immigrant status, with the ability to seek citizenship after 5 years. If unemployed or a criminal…bye bye. This should be coupled with severe, enforced penalties for companies that hire illegal immigrants. You don’t need a fence when the illegals know you can’t get a job without a green card.

And there ya go. That’s about twice what they would make at the same position, back home. As someone above mentioned, room, board, and three squares, plus a couple thousand per year in spending money beats a slum.

In poorer countries, you work as a maid, and work/marry your way up. Here, welfare, and there’s usually no work and or marrying out of that.

Maybe CA has lucked into a means of paying down their massive debt; set bail at $100 billion and then lay a trail of skittles all the way to a chartered plane at LAX.
What could go wrong?
CitizenEgg on July 11, 2013 at 10:10 AM

This Princess Meshael [no relation to the Meshael occupying the White House] wanted to pay these employees a lot more, truly, a lot lot more, but she done got sequestered…you know…could have furloughed the lot of them, and then they’d be really destitute, so she did the best she could, and cut back on their hourly wages a smidge….

The Quran sponsors slavery of both muslims and infidels…Saudis are encouraged to feel ethnically and racially superior because they believe in racial purity.

Slavery and Torture is an old story with Mohammedians…

“JERUSALEM, Israel — From the West Coast of Africa to the deserts of Sinai, Bedouin tribes are conducting a human trafficking trade on a massive scale.

It’s no secret. The trade reaps millions of dollars and deals with human misery. It could be stopped but so far no one has dared.

“By that time I had lost sense (sensation) in both my hands,” an Eritrean torture victim told CBN News. “It was a result of the accumulated torture but mainly because (both) of my wrists were tied up so tightly, (and I was) hanged up from the ceiling for three days, the blood was cut off from my hands and the flesh started to literally drip from my hands.”

This man is just one victim of this widespread modern-day slavery, kidnapping, and torture trade in the Sinai desert. There are many pictures and videos of this horrible practice on the Internet.

For this story, this Christian man from the African country of Eritrea is going by “Philip,” but that’s not his real name. CBN News covered his identity for his protection.

“In some cases, we were tortured simply because we were Christians,” he told us, his chest trembling slightly as he spoke.

“Sinai was always a place for human smuggling, but since around two years ago — even a bit more — it started also to be a place of human torture,” Shahar Shoham, director of Physicians for Human Rights, told CBN News.

Shorham has documented more than 1,300 cases of torture in the Sinai. Those survivors, like Philip, made it to Israel. But most of the cases of torture are not documented….”

What’s remarkable is the penurious nature of Alayban, assuming that this claim is true. She can easily come up with enough cash to float a $5 million bail bond (which is not surprising, given her family’s fortune), but can’t pay a maid a decent wage?

It’s not about the money, it’s about their status. They’re maids — they’re not even seen as human beings. This is typical treatment of domestic help in wealthy Middle Eastern households, especially immigrant workers. I have a friend whose former in-laws live in Dubai, and she was appalled at how they treated their household staff.

I have a friend whose former in-laws live in Dubai, and she was appalled at how they treated their household staff.

cheeflo on July 11, 2013 at 10:50 AM

Ever been to parts of Texas? It’s not quite as bad but there are a lot of illegal immigrants being paid very little for domestic work. As a Nahtherner, I was shocked. I’m assuming it is the same for the moneyed in Cali, too. Not held against their will but paid very little.

I seriously doubt that the Saudis will sit still for having a royal princess serving time in an American prison.

Ed! Read that again. You sound like a perfect dhimmie who doesn’t question a Saudis Muslim slavers right to flout the unbelievers laws. Is it because they own everyone of influence in America through some financial deal or another? Being able to buy justice in America is bad enough, not even applying it to your Muslim friends is pathetic.

Makes perfect sense. You gotta keep your foot mashed down hard on those little sub-humans, even if you could ease up a bit. Otherwise they might gain some self-worth and realize they’re fully human just like their supposed masters.
That’s how it worked in the old home country, anyway…

Ever been to parts of Texas? It’s not quite as bad but there are a lot of illegal immigrants being paid very little for domestic work. As a Nahtherner, I was shocked. I’m assuming it is the same for the moneyed in Cali, too. Not held against their will but paid very little.

Fallon on July 11, 2013 at 11:04 AM

I know many hispanics in domestic service who were legally sponsored through their churches (various denominations) to come to Texas and work as they go through legal channels to become citizens.

The ones I know are paid a decent wage by the families or hotels that employ them.

So in Texas at least, speaking as a native who has been employed on occasion by wealthy clients…not all hispanic domestic servants are illegal or underpaid.

The best cure for natherner shock is good BBQ chased by a nice cold shiner…Helps beat the Heat as well…

So big, that if all of that $5 mil were applied to it, you’d never really notice.

Sorta like taking a spoonful of sand out of a beach bucket. Not to mention that Sacramento pols would turn around and quadruple the amount with new spending, almost in the blink of an eye, or as long as it takes to make the next partial monthly installment of state pensions.

I seriously doubt that the Saudis will sit still for having a royal princess serving time in an American prison.

Ed! Read that again. You sound like a perfect dhimmie who doesn’t question a Saudis Muslim slavers right to flout the unbelievers laws. Is it because they own everyone of influence in America through some financial deal or another? Being able to buy justice in America is bad enough, not even applying it to your Muslim friends is pathetic.

BL@KBIRD on July 11, 2013 at 11:07 AM

Nothing to do with dhimmitude, and everything to do with money and power.

But the end result sure does look the same.

And it will continue to happen until it is properly “explained” to these people that it will no longer be permitted.

What’s remarkable is the penurious nature of Alayban, assuming that this claim is true. She can easily come up with enough cash to float a $5 million bail bond (which is not surprising, given her family’s fortune), but can’t pay a maid a decent wage? $220 a month isn’t much anywhere in the world, but it’s barely an allowance in southern California. Even with a normal 40-hour work week, which sounds as though it would have been nearly a vacation for these women, that comes to an hourly wage of just $1.27.

Why have US corporations done everything they can to stagnate or decrease middle class wages for the last twelve years? It’s the same issue, you see.

Sharpton: “These are not slave slaves”

faraway on July 11, 2013 at 9:39 AM

Does he see indentured servitude the same as slavery? The difference between them is hard to see.

And there ya go. That’s about twice what they would make at the same position, back home. As someone above mentioned, room, board, and three squares, plus a couple thousand per year in spending money beats a slum.

In poorer countries, you work as a maid, and work/marry your way up. Here, welfare, and there’s usually no work and or marrying out of that.

MNHawk on July 11, 2013 at 10:15 AM

The issue here is that it is not the contract that the women agreed to AND they were kept locked in the house with their passports under lock and key.

They were slaves.

It doesn’t matter if they were making more than they would back home. It doesn’t matter if they were getting fed better than they would be back home.

What matters is that they were (allegedly) lured there with the promise of a certain amount of pay and they ended up under lock and key getting paid far less.

I’m saying the $220 (plus room and board) is very well a believable amount, for getting domestic help from places like the Philippines and Kenya to the Middle East. It’s not slave labor there.

Alayban first hired the Kenyan native in March 2012 to work at her home in Saudi Arabia, Engen said. They had signed a two-year contract guaranteeing the worker would be paid $1,600 a month.

I do find this very hard to believe. And frankly, I don’t believe anything in low information media, without verification. Have they seen that contract, or is this the word of the woman? Domestic help isn’t paid that, in the Middle East.

I think there’s something to this story, what with locking up the Passports, if that even happened. But it certainly isn’t slavery and I call BS on there being a contract that promised $20,000 per year.

For reasons I am not entirely sure of, Irvine is one of the gathering places for Islamic fundies in the US.
Not quite Dearbornistan Michigan, but ballpark close.

Not for nothing is UC Irvine often derisively referred to as UC Islam. That school has the perfect storm of hyper-p.c. lefty administrators/faculty and radicalized but media-saavy Islamic students who espouse all kinds of illiberal nuttery and Jew-hatred masquerading as multi-culti tolerance & diversity.

Domestic helpers for Malaysia and Middle East, Riyadh,jeddah, abu dhabi, qatar etc.,
Muslim and Christian applicants
With or with out experience
23 yr old and above.
Salary is 1,200 to 1,800SR(DEPENDING ON EXPERIENCED)

That converts to $300 to $450. Nowhere is it remotely close to $1,600.

An internal memo by the State Department’s Inspector General found eight cases in which inquiries into alleged criminal activity by diplomatic security agents or contractors were influenced or halted, CBS television reported

And State Department covers up drug rings, prostitution use… how would they react to human trafficking? They wouldn’t cover up and defend that, right?

A State Department officer has been accused of selling visas for sex and money in what may have been a massive human trafficking operation, The Daily Caller has learned.

And how did the State Department react when they found out about US employees in sex trafficking?

“The embassy wanted a hush-hush on this whole affair,” says Benschop, radio host and publisher of the Guyana Observer. Duran was “demoted from the marriage and visa section and placed in a warehouse far away from the embassy. His tour of duty would have come to an end in September…

They covered it up and brushed it under the rug to avoid investigation much less charges for the wrongdoing… again.

Anyone care to wager we don’t have our own diplomatic cadre of abusers? Given the evidence I have to suspect our diplomats are just as bad as the ones we have here from other countries… and given that State Department will push to avoid any knowledge of those crimes (much less punishment) I can’t see any deterrent to that continuing to happen.

Once we stop our diplomats from engaging in human trafficking I’ll believe maybe we’ll get serious with other country’s diplomats too.

Ok, that post sounded like a “we do it too, so it’s not so bad when they do it” post didn’t it. Or a “blame America” conceptual piece where everything must be targeted to attack the US or something?

Not my intent… but it sort of looks like that at first blush without clarficiation.

My intent?

1) If we want to get serious about this, we have a much better range of legal options for US citizens in US embassies engaged in this, rather than diplomats from other countries who we’d have more trouble prosecuting.

2) What do you think those diplomats believe, seeing how we treat our own diplomatic issues with our guys overseas?

3) If we crack down on our guys; it’ll give more credibility to any claim that we’re looking to crack down on their guys here. Without that, I certainly don’t believe it and I wouldn’t expect anyone else to believe it.

If your house is filthy I don’t believe you care much about house cleaning. Call that what you will.